Stories about Protest from December, 2010
India: Doctor Gets Life Sentence On Sedition Charges
On 24th December, 2010, a Sessions Court in Raipur, Chattisgarh, convicted civil rights activist Dr. Binayak Sen on charges of sedition and conspiracy. The court found Dr. Sen guilty of aiding Maoist rebels in the State and have sentenced him to life imprisonment. Netizens reacted to the verdict.
Dominican Republic: Demanding 4% of National Budget for Education
In the Dominican Republic there is a heated debate about the quality of education that focuses on the fact that the General Law of Education establishes that annual public funding on education must reach at least 4% of the GDP. Actually, only around 2% is destined to education. The Internet and social media networks have become important spaces for grassroots campaigns and communication.
Caribbean: Defining Moments of 2010
Many landmark events happened in the Caribbean this year, prompting reactions from the regional blogosphere. Here's a look back at some of the most important stories of 2010...
Peru: Book About Social Conflicts in Peru
Silvio Rendón from GranComboClub analyzed [es] the book “Between economic growth and social dissatisfaction. Social protests in contemporary Peru” [es] by Romeo Grompone and Martin Tanaka. Aside from reviewing the interesting material on the case studies presented, Silvio thinks the conclusions the book reaches try to distort the social conflicts...
Venezuela: Police Repression During Protest Over University Law
Miguel Octavio in The Devil's Excrement says that students faced severe police repression during a protest against a new law that gives the government more control over universities. Furthermore, in Venezuela News and Views Daniel Duquenal reports that an AFP journalist was hurt while taking pictures of the protest.
Brazil: Act in support of WikiLeaks
The video of a debate in support of WikiLeaks, with the participation of its Brazilian representative, Natália Viana, and many cyberactivists, is available at the blog Maria Frô [pt]. The event was promoted by Intervozes [pt] – an organization advocating for freedom of expression and the democratization of communication.
Iran: Subsidies Cutback Causes Drastic Rise in Prices
Severe cutbacks on subsidies that have kept prices on many goods artificially low are feared to cause problems for many middle class and poor citizens in Iran.
Tunisia: Unemployed Man's Suicide Attempt Sparks Riots
An unemployed Tunisian set himself on fire in protest against his joblessness, sparking a wave of riots on the ground and solidarity and support on social networking platforms. While the fate of Mohamed Bouazizi, aged 26, from Sidi Bouzid, in southern Tunisia, remains unclear, Tunisian netizens ceased the incident to complain about the lack of jobs, corruption and deteriorating human rights conditions in their country.
Belarus: More on the Post-Election Situation
Democratist and Jamestown Foundation Blog discuss the post-election situation in Belarus; Information Policy writes about the hijacking of “independent media sites” during the election.
Russia: Media Coverage of Manezh Riots
A Good Treaty posts a detailed review of the Russian press coverage of the Manezh riots in Moscow.
Hungary: New Media Law and Censorship
BloggingPortal.eu and Hungarian Spectrum (here and here) discuss Hungary's new media law. According to BloggingPortal.eu, “[u]nder this new law, a National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH) will be set up – a body that Reuters reports will be ‘dominated by people loyal to the ruling Fidesz party.’ Members of this...
Haiti: Post-Election Update
“Two weeks after the preliminary results were announced, the streets of Port-au-Prince are calm, but the situation is just as confusing and worrying”: prophet N gives an update.
Cuba: “The Year of Zapata”
Uncommon Sense has declared 2010 “The Year of Zapata”. Read the blogger's full Top 10 List of Cubans who made a difference this year, here.
Pakistan: Protesting the (mis)handling of a Gang Rape Case
Sana Saleem at Mystified Justice, furious at the insensitive media handling of a recent gang rape case (that led the victim to withdraw her case against the rapist), writes an open letter to Sharmila Farooqui – protesting the manner in which the Information Advisor handled the media briefing pertaining to...
Cuba: Making a Difference
Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense continues his list of the Top 10 Cubans who made a difference this year.
South Korea: Anti-War Protests in Seoul
As tensions in Korean peninsula intensified by yesterday's military drills, protesters in Seoul went out to the streets to demonstrate various anti-war performances, with slogans like ‘Peace to Korean peninsula’ and ‘Halt the vicious cycle of violence’, Catholic magazine ‘Here now’ posted photos of protests.
Cuba: More Top 10
Uncommon Sense continues his list of the Top Ten Cubans who made an impact in 2010, here and here.
Côte d'Ivoire: Ivorian Internet Users Fear a New Era of Terror in Abidjan
The political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire is getting increasingly violent. According to the UN, 50 people were killed and 200 injured for the past three days. Traditional media were shunned from showing scenes of violence during some of the skirmishes but internet users managed to publish some video footage of the violence around the country.
Hal Roberts’ Commentary on Internet Censorship in Belarus
Hal Roberts, Berkman Center censorship expert, comments on recent messages of extensive Internet censorship in Belarus. Besides, DNS-hijacking and filtering, Roberts also reports DDOS attacks on opposition websites.
Belarus: Tweets and Pictures of Another Post-Election Rallies
Despite Twitter has been blocked in Belarus, the Twitter hashtag #electby is updated every second. Lots of photos of the Belarus events available at picfog at the same hashtag.
Belarus: Users Are Redirected to Fake Opposition Websites
Habrahabr-user webdew reports that Belarus users are being redirected to fake opposition websites: gazetaby.in, nnby.in, charter97.in, bchdd.in, belaruspartisan.in, euroradio.in, ucpb.in, svaboda.in. The design of all these websites is the same but the content is completely different from the original. All domains belong to “Belpak”, Belarus state-owned Internet provider.